


Vati and Papa

by what_a_dork_fish



Series: Cheriks [13]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: All the children - Freeform, Fluff, dadneto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 08:05:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13520058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_a_dork_fish/pseuds/what_a_dork_fish
Summary: An introduction to the world of Erik, single father.





	Vati and Papa

**Author's Note:**

> I might make this into a collection of Dadneto fics idk

“VATI VATI GET UP GET UP!”

Erik groans and opens his eyes a crack to peer at the clock. It’s four in the morning. “What, what, what?” he mumbles, propping himself up on his elbow.

“Vati, it snowed!” Nina gushes, pointing to the window and grinning. She’s missing three teeth.

“Is it a snowday?” Lorna, only three years older, asks hopefully. “Is it, Vati?”

“I don’t know if it’s a snowday,” Erik grumbles, “We have to check the weather site.”

Lorna immediately runs to the desk, where Erik’s desktop computer rests, and jabs the power button. It hums to life and the light sears into Erik’s sleep-gummed eyes.

“Lorna, Nina, what are you doing?” Wanda yawns, shuffling into the room. She and Peter are in their teens, but that doesn’t make them any less rambunctious than their siblings when they get going. And none of Erik’s children seem to understand privacy, or asking permission. Erik’s too tired to be angry.

“It snowed!” Nina tells Wanda happily, and Wanda perks up.

“Snowday?” she asks, as if _she’s_ the four year old.

“Snowday!” Lorna confirms with jubilation as she scrolls down the list of closed schools.

“SNOWDAY?!” Peter hollers from his room next door.

Erik groans and pulls his pillow over his head.

~

Erik can’t cope with four chattering children and one grumpy eighteen-year-old (Anya started school a year late) this early in the morn, so he calls in the big guns.

“Charles? Are you awake?”

“Noooo,” Charles groans, sounding absolutely exhausted.

“Get some tea in you,” Erik replies. “Better yet, unlock the door and let us come make tea for you.”

His children all stop eating 5AM breakfast to shout, “YES!”

A croaking laugh means Charles heard them. “Alright, fine. Be careful, darling.”

“We will be.” Erik grins at Anya, who gulps but nods. She’s only driven in the snow once. She needs practice.

It takes fifteen minutes for the children to dress, and fifteen more for them to convince their father that _no_ , they do _not_ need snowsuits and their warmest coats just for a ride to Papa’s apartment. Erik scowls but lets them win. Well. He tells himself he lets them.

They pile into the van and Anya carefully backs out of the driveway, trying to watch all three mirrors at once. There’s no one else in the street, though, so she gets out just fine, and drives down their street in the hush of a snowy early morning. They live in a relatively poor area, and their house is the biggest on their street, but Erik makes enough that they can afford to repair the house.

Papa, however, lives near the college, in an apartment somewhere between “cozy” and “cramped”, in a part of town full of rich artsy students. Papa keeps saying he’s going to move in with Erik and the kids, but he never _does_. Anya, as the oldest and therefore the one who has bonded least with Charles, suspects he doesn’t want to leave his “safe” area. Wanda and Peter, who remember their mother, but not very well, know for a fact (they are unapologetic eavesdroppers) that it’s because Vati and Papa are planning on getting an even bigger, better house when Vati is promoted.

Lorna and Nina don’t remember their mothers at all. They only remember Papa. And they’re used to traveling back and forth, now.

They make it to Papa’s apartment building and park in the covered garage underneath, before the kids race each other up the stairs. Vati lopes after them, catching Nina and Lorna when they fall behind and catching up to Anya and Wanda. Peter is running as fast as he can, even as the others deliberately slow down, and when they reach the first floor he’s waiting there, scowling.

“You’re slow,” he tells his family.

“You’re just too fast,” Vati answers calmly, and leads the way quickly to Papa’s apartment.

It’s quiet and warm inside the apartment. Nina and Lorna wriggle free of Vati’s grip and run to Papa’s bedroom, knocking briskly on the open door before flinging themselves through. “PAPAAA!”

Erik grins and goes to the kitchen to start tea, while his younger children go to pester Charles awake and Anya fetches down mugs.

“When’s he gonna move in with us?” Anya asks her father, tightening her ponytail. “It’ll be easier on everyone.”

Vati smirks. “Well,” he begins slowly, “Charles says he has a house in mind. It’s big enough for all of us and then some.”

Anya glances sharply at her father, recognizing his tone. “Where is this house?” she asks calmly.

“Westchester.”

Anya frowns. “That’s on the mainland, though,” she objects. “We’d all have to change schools.”

“Yes, there is that,” Vati admits, putting the kettle on to boil. “Which is why we’re going to wait until summer to ask. So… think about it. I know you don’t like him—“

“That’s not true!” Anya interrupts, surprised. “I love Papa. I just—I still love Mama too. He can’t replace her.”

Vati looks at her, startled. Then he holds out his arms. Anya goes to him immediately and hugs him, knowing it’s more for his sake than hers.

“I’m not asking that he replace her,” Vati murmurs, hugging Anya tight. “I’m glad you love him, though.”

“Vati, I love anyone you do.”

Vati hugs her tighter and kisses her forehead. “Thank you,” he whispers.

“Papa’s awake!” Nina carols, skipping over to hug Erik’s leg, breaking the moment before it gets too intense. “Vati, is the tea ready?”

Vati grins and lets go of Anya to scoop up Nina. “Not yet, liebling. Is he really awake, or are his eyes just open?”

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” Charles yawns, wheeling out of the bedroom. He’s just in pajama bottoms, so the scars on his chest show, but after three years, none of the Lehnsherr family even glance at them. “You’d better be making something extremely caffeinated.”

Erik smiles, walks over, and bends down to kiss Charles briefly. The younger Lehnsherr kids all go “Ewww!” as if they haven’t seen this happen fifty thousand times before, and Anya just smirks a little.

No, Papa will never take Mama’s place; but he’s good for Vati, and that’s all Anya cares about.

~

That summer, Vati is promoted. He immediately starts house-hunting, and Papa and the children come with him. Eventually they find one that fits their specifications, and even though it’s not as nice as Papa’s apartment, it’s better than their old house. They don’t even have to change schools, although Vati now has a longer commute.

They all move in together, and the children find it surprisingly easy to integrate Papa into their routines. He gets up later than the kids, but he’ll still have breakfast with them. He will gladly watch movies with them, and pretend nobody’s hiding their eyes at the scary parts. He helps them with their English homework, and plays Minecraft with Wanda.

Vati is happy all the time now, and that is good. Papa is happy, too. And the kids—all of them, eldest to youngest—all agree that this was an excellent idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments = Love, Life, and Happiness


End file.
